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You can cross-enroll with MIT...and from what my friends (all premed, physics, etc.) say, the only area in which MIT is superior is engineering. Don't quote me on that, of course, but that's the general opinion around Cambridge, as far as I know.
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<p>Well, I don't know that that's a 'general opinion around Cambridge'. After all, MIT is also in Cambridge, and I doubt that that sentiment is shared there. For example, I would point out that a lot of Harvard people cross-reg for Sloan classes, because Harvard doesn't have an undergrad business program and HBS allows few (usually zero) undergrads to take classes. </p>
<p>More to the point, both schools are extremely strong in a variety of areas, so cross-reg gives you access to a greater set of resources. For example, both are strong in science, math, and economics. I know Harvard people who have cross-regged at MIT just to take a class with economist Jerry Hausman (John Bates Clark winner) or linguist Noam Chomsky. Cross-reg in general is a great resource for students at both schools.</p>
<p>I'll skip over the not-productive useles pi**ing contest over who has better math (insignificant difference, for whatever that's worth), and comment on the fact that ALMOST NO ONE, from either MIT undergrad or Harvard undergrad actually cross-registers... the schools operate on different academic calendars, which is just enough of a disincentive for the vast majority of students... but the main reason is, there really is no good reason to cross-register... each school is phenomenal in almost everything they do... when you get to your respective campuses, you realize there is no way for you to even come close to exhausting the possible interesting classes... </p>
<p>The only REAL exception, is the relatively few Harvard engineers do, in fact, cross-register at MIT... the Harvard undergrad curriculum, while quite rigorous, and quite good, does NOT offer a very broad selection of classes...</p>
<p>So, although it's common for prospective students at either school to think they will cross-register... I would say that 99% of the students never avail themselves of that option... there really is no point to it at the undergrad level. I was a physics/astro joint concentrator, and never met a single Harvard physics or astro or pure/natural science student who ever cross-registered... nor did I ever meet a single, solitary MIT student in any of my classes, science or non-science.</p>
<p>Quote:
MIT chemistry is twice bigger than Harvard, MIT physics is three times bigger,yet substantially more Harvard alumni got Nobel prize in Physics and Chemistry. </p>
<p>No it is not. Have you bothered to add in all of the people in Harvard Medical School? That's a giant slew of people right there. Add them up, and you will see that they are all about the same size.
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What puts Harvard over the top is that Harvard also includes categories such as "Harvard Medical School", "Harvard Law School", "Harvard School of Public Health", etc. You add up all of these people in addition to "Harvard University", and you get a number that is much larger than MIT.
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<p>MIT engineering is ranked higher than Harvard simply bacause of MIT eng. is bigger ?</p>
<p>What I can't stand about Mathematicians, Economists, etc is that you all think the world can be understood in quantitative terms (X dept has this many nobels, X dept has this many profs). Please calm down and have a cigarette. To the original poster: once you get to Harvard, if you are still worried about your choice go talk to your advisor or make an appointment to speak with someone in the math department.</p>
<p>Just to point out an error in Sakky's comment:</p>
<p>"Just like because Moscow State has won more Fields Medals than Harvard has doesn't mean that Moscow State necessarily has a better math department."</p>
<p>Actually, it's the other way around; Harvard has won more Fields Medals.</p>
<p>Fields Medalists as of 7/06 (home institution of awardee at time of award)</p>
<p>Princeton University 5
Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton 5
Harvard University 4
University of Cambridge, UK 4
UC Berkeley 2
MIT 2
University of Oxford, UK 2
Moscow State University 2
Stanford University 1</p>
<p>Statistics were brought up in this case to counter an erroneous statement, ie. that MIT is "superior" to Harvard in math and science.</p>
<p>The number of National Academy members, Nobel Prize winners, Field Medalists, citation indices, research grants, etc. of course do not describe everything about a particular school's strengths and weaknesses. But combined, they do paint a pretty powerful picture. For example, less than 5% of American scientists ever get elected to the National Academy. Each membership represents lifetime achievement and scholarship that has been recognized by the peers. How many National Academy members a particular school has correlates quite well with a school's scientific prowness. I consider that to be more meaningful than graduate rankings assembled by some bozos sitting at the U.S. News Report office, playing with the computer algorithm to make the rankings slightly different each year.</p>
<p>These kinds of statistics are, at any rate, a far better piece of information compared to some of the preposterous "advice" and "inside knowledge" that I see being disseminated.</p>
<p>Although points have been made about the size of the faculty (Yalies love to make this point, I noticed), the fact that you can retain such a large number of extremely talented people says something about the attractiveness of the school itself. Namely, 1) prestige - professors aren't immune to it and in fact academics do care deeply about fame. That's why they spend years of tedious research just to see their name printed on papers, 2) Harvard treats its professors very well. Only Rockefeller University pays its professors slightly better than Harvard, and this is not surprising because all Rockefeller professors are big name biomedical researchers who would be paid extremely well anywhere. Harvard pays about $170,000 per professor, which is $20,000-40,000 above Yale, Stanford, and Princeton. 3) Boston is a very nice place to live and raise family. 4) Having lots of other top-notch colleagues and potential collaborators at Harvard is also an big attraction. </p>
<p>The same thing about the size of the student body. That Harvard is able to get such a large number of talented people apply and say yes when they are accepted is a clear indicator of the quality of the school. That Harvard has the largest number of National Merit Scholars, Rhodes and Marshall Scholars, students enrolling at top graduate schools, etc. is even more impressive because it has a larger size. Think Yale could maintain its applicant pool and academic standards if it expanded by 30% to match Harvard? Think again.</p>
<p>The biggest reason Harvard attracts so many National merit scholars, etc has nothing to do with how good the college is. I can bet about 60% of the kids do it for the PRIDE, HONOR, or PRESTIGE. I'm sure they could do just as well, if not better, at Princeton, Stanford, or CalTech.</p>
<p>Harvard is prestigious BECAUSE it attracts the best faculty and students. If you think that "how good a college is" can be somehow uncoupled from "how good the quality of students and faculty it attracts", you are sadly mistaken.</p>
<p>I don't know what you mean by "doing well". If you are talking about professional success after college, Harvard produces:</p>
<p>the largest number of students getting into top graduate schools
the largest number of students going to U.K. on Rhodes and Marshall
the largest number of Fortune 500 CEOs
the largest number of U.S. Senators
the largest number of U.S. Supreme Court justices
the largest number of U.S. Presidents
the largest number of journalists at top newspapers/magazines
the largest number of Nobel Prize winners</p>
<p>If you are talking about getting good grades in college, well, thanks to "grade inflation", Harvard students do quite well, certainly much better than CalTech or MIT (LOL).</p>
<p>If you are talking about learning economics, history, or biology, or whatever, quite honestly, you can learn the same stuff just as well at NYU, USC, UCLA, or any of the liberal arts colleges and decent public universities. You definitely do not have to go to Princeton, Stanford, or CalTech. You go to these schools to be with exceptionally bright students and faculty. And by those measures, Harvard is at the top of the pack. </p>
<p>If you don't care about being with the best, save 120 grand and just go to a state school.</p>
<p>the largest number of students getting into top graduate schools
the largest number of students going to U.K. on Rhodes and Marshall
the largest number of Fortune 500 CEOs
the largest number of U.S. Senators
the largest number of U.S. Supreme Court justices
the largest number of U.S. Presidents
the largest number of journalists at top newspapers/magazines
the largest number of Nobel Prize winners</p>
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<p>Well let's be fair though, Harvard has been around much longer than most other colleges so I think that a better estimate would be dividing it by the years the college has existed.</p>
<p>At this point its negligible. Pretty much pick a college that you will have a better life at with students that you will like more. We cant forget that MIT is notoriously missing something in the looks department.</p>
<p>"Well let's be fair though, Harvard has been around much longer than most other colleges so I think that a better estimate would be dividing it by the years the college has existed."</p>
<p>MIT physics, chem, math departments are much bigger than Harvard's.</p>
<p>I think a better estimate of Nobel Prize winner and Fields Medal winners woulld be dividing them by the number of physics, chem & Math students..</p>